Students complete focused research on the aspect of an animal which they chose in the previous lesson. They can find their information on internet websites (only those previously bookmarked by their teacher for web safety), in encyclopedias, non-fiction books and any other reputable source in the library (for example, the library might have on its walls information posters about Australian wildlife containing pertinent information).
Outcomes and indicators:
ENGLISH
Learning to Read — Reading and Viewing Texts RS2.5 Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events. Indicators: • contributes to a class summary after reading or viewing • predicts and lists a range of print and nonprint resources for answering focus questions, eg Internet, literary and factual films, photographs, charts, people • interprets basic maps, charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, other still and moving graphics • obtains information from selected Internet/computer sites and other computer graphics and texts.
Learning to Read — Skills and Strategies RS2.6 Uses efficiently an integrated range of skills and strategies when reading and interpreting written texts. Indicators: Information Skills (p31 K-6 English Syllabus) • uses knowledge of alphabetical order, first and subsequent letters of a word to locate information in dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossaries • uses the table of contents, menu, index, page numbers, headings, captions and key words to find information • makes brief notes of information relevant to the topic, recording resources used • locates and sorts information on a topic from a variety of sources • locates information from sources such as books, pictures, bookmarked sections of the Internet, databases, CD-ROMs and media texts • makes judgements about the appropriateness of information.
WS2.10 Produces texts clearly, effectively and accurately, using the sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.
• uses present tense in factual texts such as information reports and procedures
• uses correct punctuation in published version of own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas
VALUES & ATTITUDES OUTCOMES V4 shows confidence in using language in a variety of contexts V5 shows independence in using and learning language
SCIENCE FOCUS OUTCOME Living Things
living things depend on other living things to survive.
plants and animals live in environments that supply their needs.
Resources/set up:
Interactive Whiteboard with computer linked to IWB screen in the library
Whiteboard
Whiteboard markers
Lesson plan
Computers with web browsers bookmarked with web sites containing native animal content pre-approved by the teacher.
Non-fiction informative books on animals native to Australia
Students using encyclopaedias or other books use the library photocopier and a highlighter to collect and organize their information.
Word document with the questions on it – students can read questions off this (please see document below entitled "Peer evaluation questions for IWB").
Listen to teacher recalling their prior work / knowledge
Begin the lesson in the library
Reiterate what students accomplished in lesson 2, which was that they: -Decided on which Australian animal to study -Established prior knowledge of their animal, using the sub-headings of appearance, habitat, movement, food, behaviour, lifecycle, as a scaffold for organising the information -Shared the workload for their research
Model ways of organizing information in an information report including the use of subheadings in information reports on the whiteboard to give students some background as to why they need to look for information centred around the above sub-headings (in bold type).
Whiteboard
Whiteboard markers
Lesson plan
Students organized in non-friend mixed ability pairs to prevent unfocused chatting
body (1)
20
Students take their positions in front of computers or begin researching in the books which have been collected by the teacher and the librarian especially for this research project.
Teacher walks around to ask questions of the students and give comments to ensure that they are able to find information such as:
“What are the best ways of finding your information from books?”
“What are the best ways of finding your information from computers?”
“Students using encyclopaedias and other books to research, remember to use the index at the back of the book and the glossary to look up any unknown terms”.
“Students using computers, don’t forget to cut and paste your information to a Word document and save your work to your class file or print it out”.
“Would you like some help?” – Be accessible to students.
Computers with web browsers bookmarked with web sites containing native animal content pre-approved by the teacher.
Non-fiction informative books on animals native to Australia
Students using encyclopaedias or other books use the library photocopier and a highlighter to collect and organize their information.
Teacher questions ensure children are on-task.
This student-centred task should provide motivation enough to keep Stage 2 children on-task.
Be accessible to students.
Body (2)
15
Students assemble in front of teacher.
In your pairs read your information out loud to each other, and edit for structure to improve it. After that, ask each other the following questions:
Peer evaluation questions Does it include interesting factual information and what is it?
Was there anything that was difficult to understand? (Words to look up or difficult concepts) Did you use the glossary if the book has one?
Did you use present tense in your information?
Did you use correct punctuation in your own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas.
Teacher refocuses the class by bringing them away from the books and computers and has them seated on the floor in front of her/him.
Ask students to read their information out loud to each other, and edit for structure to improve it. After that, ask each other the following questions:
Does it include interesting factual information and what is it?
Was there anything that was difficult to understand? (Words to look up or difficult concepts) Did you use the glossary if the book has one?
Did you use present tense in your information?
Did you use correct punctuation in your own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas. (Teacher puts questions up on the IWB in the library).
Interactive whiteboard (IWB)
Word document with the questions on it – students can read questions off this.
Peer evaluation provides a focus for students to concentrate and reflect on their work and that of their partner. This is for the cognitive benefits of reflection and not for summative evaluation.
Conclusion
15
• Each pair will give a brief summary for the whole class about the most interesting information they have learnt from their research. Another class member is allowed to ask one question of the pair.
Teacher ensures that the class asks sensible questions that are on-topic.
Evidence of Learning: • contributes to a class summary after reading or viewing • predicts and lists a range of print and nonprint resources for answering focus questions, eg Internet, literary and factual films, photographs, charts, people • interprets basic maps, charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, other still and moving graphics • obtains information from selected Internet/computer sites and other computer graphics and texts. • uses knowledge of alphabetical order, first and subsequent letters of a word to locate information in dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossaries • uses the table of contents, menu, index, page numbers, headings, captions and key words to find information • makes brief notes of information relevant to the topic, recording resources used • locates and sorts information on a topic from a variety of sources • locates information from sources such as books, pictures, bookmarked sections of the Internet, databases, CD-ROMs and media texts makes judgements about the appropriateness of information • uses present tense in factual texts such as information reports and procedures • uses correct punctuation in published version of own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas
LESSON 3 Research for information report
Date:1/10/11 Time:11am Duration: 1 hour Stage: 2
Lesson context and Focus:
Students complete focused research on the aspect of an animal which they chose in the previous lesson. They can find their information on internet websites (only those previously bookmarked by their teacher for web safety), in encyclopedias, non-fiction books and any other reputable source in the library (for example, the library might have on its walls information posters about Australian wildlife containing pertinent information).Outcomes and indicators:
ENGLISH
Learning to Read — Reading and Viewing Texts
RS2.5 Reads independently a wide range of texts on increasingly challenging topics and justifies own interpretation of ideas, information and events.
Indicators:
• contributes to a class summary after reading or viewing
• predicts and lists a range of print and nonprint resources for answering focus questions, eg Internet, literary and factual films, photographs, charts, people
• interprets basic maps, charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, other still and moving graphics
• obtains information from selected Internet/computer sites and other computer graphics and texts.
Learning to Read — Skills and Strategies
RS2.6 Uses efficiently an integrated range of skills and strategies when reading and interpreting written texts.
Indicators:
Information Skills (p31 K-6 English Syllabus)
• uses knowledge of alphabetical order, first and subsequent letters of a word to locate information in dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossaries
• uses the table of contents, menu, index, page numbers, headings, captions and key words to find information
• makes brief notes of information relevant to the topic, recording resources used
• locates and sorts information on a topic from a variety of sources
• locates information from sources such as books, pictures, bookmarked sections of the Internet, databases, CD-ROMs and media texts
• makes judgements about the appropriateness of information.
WS2.10 Produces texts clearly, effectively and accurately, using the sentence structure, grammatical features and punctuation conventions of the text type.
• uses present tense in factual texts such as information reports and procedures
• uses correct punctuation in published version of own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas
VALUES & ATTITUDES OUTCOMES
V4 shows confidence in using language in a variety of contexts
V5 shows independence in using and learning language
SCIENCE FOCUS OUTCOME
Living Things
Resources/set up:
timing
(mins)
student
activity
(Open questions, cues)
RESOURCES
Intro
10
Listen to teacher recalling their prior work / knowledge
Reiterate what students accomplished in lesson 2, which was that they:
-Decided on which Australian animal to study
-Established prior knowledge of their animal, using the sub-headings of appearance, habitat, movement, food, behaviour, lifecycle, as a scaffold for organising the information
-Shared the workload for their research
Model ways of organizing information in an information report including the use of subheadings in information reports on the whiteboard to give students some background as to why they need to look for information centred around the above sub-headings (in bold type).
Whiteboard markers
Lesson plan
body (1)
20
“What are the best ways of finding your information from books?”
“What are the best ways of finding your information from computers?”
“Students using encyclopaedias and other books to research, remember to use the index at the back of the book and the glossary to look up any unknown terms”.
“Students using computers, don’t forget to cut and paste your information to a Word document and save your work to your class file or print it out”.
“Would you like some help?” – Be accessible to students.
Non-fiction informative books on animals native to Australia
Students using encyclopaedias or other books use the library photocopier and a highlighter to collect and organize their information.
This student-centred task should provide motivation enough to keep Stage 2 children on-task.
Be accessible to students.
Body (2)
15
In your pairs read your information out loud to each other, and edit for structure to improve it.
After that, ask each other the following questions:
Peer evaluation questions
Does it include interesting factual information and what is it?
Was there anything that was difficult to understand? (Words to look up or difficult concepts) Did you use the glossary if the book has one?
Did you use present tense in your information?
Did you use correct punctuation in your own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas.
Ask students to read their information out loud to each other, and edit for structure to improve it.
After that, ask each other the following questions:
Does it include interesting factual information and what is it?
Was there anything that was difficult to understand? (Words to look up or difficult concepts) Did you use the glossary if the book has one?
Did you use present tense in your information?
Did you use correct punctuation in your own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas.
(Teacher puts questions up on the IWB in the library).
Word document with the questions on it – students can read questions off this.
Conclusion
15
Each pair will give a brief summary for the whole class about the most interesting information they have learnt from their research. Another class member is allowed to ask one question of the pair.
Evidence of Learning:
• contributes to a class summary after reading or viewing
• predicts and lists a range of print and nonprint resources for answering focus questions, eg Internet, literary and factual films, photographs, charts, people
• interprets basic maps, charts, diagrams, graphs, photographs, other still and moving graphics
• obtains information from selected Internet/computer sites and other computer graphics and texts.
• uses knowledge of alphabetical order, first and subsequent letters of a word to locate information in dictionaries, encyclopedias and glossaries
• uses the table of contents, menu, index, page numbers, headings, captions and key words to find information
• makes brief notes of information relevant to the topic, recording resources used
• locates and sorts information on a topic from a variety of sources
• locates information from sources such as books, pictures, bookmarked sections of the Internet, databases, CD-ROMs and media texts
makes judgements about the appropriateness of information
• uses present tense in factual texts such as information reports and procedures
• uses correct punctuation in published version of own writing, eg capital letters, full stops, question marks and commas
TEACHER EVALUATION
Lesson Strengths:
What worked, and why?
Lesson Weaknesses:
What didn’t work, and why?
Possible Improvements: